Intruder and Attack Dogs
by Ishkabibble1991
Summary: Higgins awakes to someone in her house. (Set pre-season 2)
1. A Rough Night

Blearily blinking her eyes, Juliet Higgins came back to consciousness quite quickly. Which was a shame because side-eyeing her clock on her nightstand, revealed it to be only 2:33 am. Not wanting to leave the warm and comfort of her bed, she laid there a moment and listened for any sounds that may have disturbed her slumber, but all was quiet. A bit too quiet. The light breathing sounds from her dogs were absent from the room.

Not yet moving, Juliet scanned what she could see from her vantage point, laying on her side not seeing any threats – or her dogs, but the door to exit her room lay behind her. Faking sleep, she mostly closed her eyes and acted as if she were just turning to a more comfortable position, she scoped out the other side of the room, alarmed to find the door ajar, but room empty.

Sitting up, she checked her blind spot at the foot of the bed, and pulled a gun from its hiding spot behind her headboard. The former MI6 agent knew she had closed her door, as she always did, and both of the lads' dog beds were empty. While intelligent animals, even they could not work a round door knob by themselves, someone had been in her room, and somehow removed the animals without them alerting her, as they were trained to do. She considered calling the police but settled for sending Magnum a text instead. He could call in the calvary if he didn't hear back from her in ten minutes. Crouching a bit, to help quiet her soft steps, she made her way to the hallway. She glanced in both directions for safety, before exiting the bedroom.

Straining her ears for any sound, she started down the hall to the right, which led to the main entrances of the house, so she could check for any signs of a break-in. Soft moon light gave her enough light to see the outlines of objects, but corners of the room away from windows remained dark enough for someone to hide in. Making her way slowly and silently through the open kitchen and sitting area, she caught a light thudding sound, like something was dropped, come from her adjacent office. Again glancing around the door frame, before deciding it was safe enough to enter. No one appeared to be in this room either, but she was confident this room was the source of the noise.

Juliet went to clear the area behind her desk, but she didn't make it two steps in before a blinding light went off in front of her. A light grenade rather than a flashbang since it was not accompanied by a deafening sound. Unfortunately it still disoriented and distracted her enough for someone behind her to grab a pressure point on her wrist and twist sharply, causing her to lose her grip on the gun. While the person – a male based of what she could feel, brought up their left arm to press their forearm into her throat and pull her backwards into his chest.

They were close enough to the book shelf just left of the doorway for Juliet to kick against it and throw both of them backwards onto the floor. The intruder's back striking the door frame on the way and landing them on their left sides. The impact loosened the man's grip on her right arm and Higgins quickly pulled it back to strike her elbow into his gut, and was able to free herself from the arm around her throat.

Now free, she rolled away from him and tried to get her feet back under her but she was kicked backwards into her office and away from the confining doorway. Using her momentum she tucked and rolled backward until she was crouched on her feet. The man was quickly back on his feet as well and threw himself at her, the majordomo's desk striking the back of her legs. She got in a good punch to his right eye, over the top of his arms that were pushing at her shoulders, but he held strong and she was pushed backwards to lie on the top of it with his arm once again at her throat.

"It's not good, feeling like you're not safe in your own home is it?" the man spoke and Higgins froze in surprise and confusion, aborting her attempt to strike him again.

"Orville?" It came out as almost a whisper in her shock. "What - "

"Do you know where I've been all day?!" Rick demanded. He sounded furious and the arm at her throat, while not painful, was steadfastly keeping her pinned down uncomfortably.

"No, wh-" again she was cut off.

He leaned his head closer so she could clearly see his glare in the moonlight. "I've been sitting in the hospital wondering if I was going to lose another member of my family!" Higgins eyes widened and concernedly asked who, "Who do you think?! Thomas, that's who! He almost bled out today, from you and your damn dogs!"

"Now wait just a minute," Juliet started, straining to push herself into an upright position, but Rick pushed her back down, holding a painful pressure for a moment before resuming just holding her down.

"No! I always thought Magnum was exaggerating when he called your dogs demons. But today I get called to the hospital because he was mauled by your Dobermans! At first I couldn't believe it, but when Magnum got out of surgery, he told me that you trained them with his shirt, to attack him!"

Juliet winced at the memory of that – rather bad – joke, "Now Rick, that's not-"

"You really did, didn't you?" He asked in disbelief, as if he still had some doubt in his mind when he started this night.

"No!" she shouted. "Rick, it was a joke,"

"Not very funny with him in the hospital, is it?"

"The lads didn't do this!" She almost pleaded, but her voice was firm. "Wait – where are my dogs Rick?" Higgins demanded and the hands she had wrapped around his arm tightened.

"They're fine, for now. Not sure what will happen to them when I turn them over to HPD and animal control though."

Higgins dug her fingernails into his arm, as if piercing his skin would open him up to what she was saying. "Zeus and Apollo did not attack Magnum. While I did tell Magnum I was using his shirt during their defense training, it was not the truth. Since Magnum was sticking around, I had gotten his shirt to put by the lads dog beds so they would associate him with home and safety and get use to him faster. When he caught me with his shirt that I had just retrieved, I was just -" her she sighed not sure how to word it. "It was just a bad joke, and it's easy to prove that my dogs are innocent. Did you ask where he was when he was bitten? The dogs don't leave the estate."

Rick looked away and clenched his jaw, brows furrowed, like he wasn't sure what to believe.

"Rick, why can't you trust that I wouldn't hurt Magnum?"

At that he swung his gaze back at her, "We can't trust anybody! Only each other, we were there for 18 months, and then find out that it was Hannah that betrayed us! We trusted her and look how that turned out!"

Higgins let go of Orville's arm and instead lightly covered his fist with her hand. "I'm not Hannah," she said gently. At that Rick, quickly retreated, turning his back to her and running a slightly trembling hand over his face. Juliet finally got to sit up right, but remained leaning against the desk, waiting for Rick to fully calm down. He walked over to the light switch and flipped it on, and she decided it was a good sign. "Now it is almost 3am, why don't I show you to a room for a short nap, and in the morning you can confirm with Magnum that Zeus and Apollo are not the culprits."

Rick turned back to her, distrust still coloring his words, "Thomas would lie for you. He knows how much they mean to you. He would lie, so you could keep your dogs."

Higgins studied him in the light for a minute. The normally lighthearted, fun loving man, appeared very on edge and strung out. He had deep bags under his eyes, definitely running on very little sleep, a few abrasions littered his skin, some old and some new that would probably be bruises tomorrow. "Well, if he was picked up in an ambulance, the report will have his pickup location. And if that still doesn't satisfy you, we can get the lads teeth impressions to compare with the bite wounds. Alright?" She kept her tone light, and made sure to display open and relaxed bodily language, with her hands just above waist level, palms up.

Giving a jerky nod, he gestured for her to lead the way. The gun she had dropped earlier was lying on the opposite side of the doorway that Rick was standing on. Higgins didn't want to leave it lying around, but also didn't know if it was safe to draw the currently unpredictable man's attention to it either.

It was jarring, the heavy feeling of knowing that the boys didn't trust her as much as she trusted them – _had_ trusted them. Her expression might have given away her thoughts – or he'd just remembered on his own, because he glanced at the gun for a second before turning back to her. "You should put that away," he said as he backed away from it, leaning against a shelf, a good 15 ft away. Higgins picked it up, making no sudden movements, putting the safety back on and tucking it into her waist band, so he didn't feel threatened by it in her hand.

"This way please." She said as she left the room. Rick kept his distance and followed after her, to the empty bedroom next to hers. "Someone will need to feed the lads and let them outside in the morning."

Rick stepped past her and into the room and Higgins thought he was going to ignore her implied question. He sank his weight onto the bed, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, and head in his hands. "The nurses said the earliest Magnum would be up was 9am, with what drugs they gave him." He spoke through his fingers. "The dogs are just at Magnum's ."

"Thank you. Let's leave here at 8:15 then, get some rest," Higgins left his door open, and entered her own, locking it behind her. She would resume locking it every night from then on. Having gotten too comfortable here, she hadn't felt the need to in a while.


	2. Morning

Although she lay back in bed, she had no plans on going back to sleep, keeping an ear out for sounds in the next room. It had been about two weeks since she had last seen the blonde man, when Magnum had a case that required favors from the both of them at the same location. He had looked a little tired then as well, but had still acted his normal upbeat self. Although he _had_ declined to get drinks with them after the case was finished, citing the need to head back to the Kamehameha Club.

Higgins lay there resting but not sleeping until her alarm clock went off at her usual 5 am wake up time. Hitting the alarm, she dressed and went to let the dogs out of the guest house. The dogs were fine of course, she hadn't worried about that. Just momentarily concerned he may have turned them over to someone. Rick loved them and wouldn't have hurt them even if they actually had attacked Magnum. He always said there were no bad dogs, just bad people.

She left the back door open for the dogs as they did their business outside, while she got their food ready for them in the kitchen. Shortly the dogs came bounding in, and obediently sat in front of their bowls, waiting for her permission before digging in.

Deciding on avocado toast for breakfast, she had just placed the bread in the toaster when there was a scream from Rick's room. Breakfast abandoned by both dogs and master, they ran to the second bedroom. At the door, Higgins commanded the dogs to wait, not wanting them to get hurt if Rick lashed out in sleep. But Rick wasn't asleep, or looked like he even attempted any sleep, bed still made, and him still sitting at the edge of the bed where she left him a few hours ago.

He was breathing rapidly and staring off into space with a tortured expression. A bruise was beginning to show from her punch the night before, promising to turn into a colorful black eye soon. "Good Morning Rick," she greeted, testing the waters. He blinked a few times, before registering her at the door. He ran a hand down his face and mumbled what could have been an attempt at 'morning'. "Avocado toast for breakfast, it'll be ready in a couple minutes."

Higgins released the dogs, and they went to comfort the distraught man and receive head scratches in return. She watched them a moment before leaving to continue assembling breakfast, getting out more ingredients for a second serving. She had just finished placing the filled plates on the table when Rick walked in, the dogs leaving his side to finish their own food. "You're just in time, have a seat," she invited as she took a seat herself.

He stayed standing where he was for a moment, watching the dogs eat as he said, "I'm sorry, Higgins. I don't know how I could have thought these dogs would actually attack Magnum."

He turned to look at her then and she wondered if he had deliberately phrased it that way - to imply that he still thought she would be the one to hurt Thomas. There was also the lack of apology for attacking her. If she wasn't so concerned about him, she'd throw him out and restrict his access to the estate.

He dropped his gaze to the food. "Thanks Higgins, looks great," he said as he picked up the toast from the plate, "I'm going to take this to go. Gotta head home before I go back to the hospital. T.C. stayed the night with Magnum, he just texted, asking me to pick him up a change of clothes. Will we see you there?"

"Yes, of course, I'll be there by 9. Did you need a ride? I don't believe I saw your car on the security feed."

"I parked about a mile down the road. I'll be fine."

"I insist. I have to drive down to get the mail from the mailbox anyway. I'll drop you off at your car." A slight lie, she usually got the mail as part of her morning run. With the driveway being maybe a third of a mile, the USPS didn't make the trip up to the gate unless there was a package; letters had to be retrieved from the mailbox on the main street. He accepted and they made the trip to his car in silence, Rick throwing away his toast on the way out of the house, with only one bite taken.

Reaching Rick's car, Higgins put her SUV in park, wanting to wait for him to drive away before she would head back to the house. "Thanks," he muttered before crossing the street to his car, parked off to the side in the grass. He didn't leave right away, rummaging around in the center console. He was too far away for her to read the label of the small bottle he picked up. Based on the size and color, it was probably just a five hour energy shot. Slightly better than the pill bottle she was expecting. Then he drank a second one, before driving off. She was definitely going to need to have a conversation with Magnum about his friend.


End file.
